Blagojevich pick will be seated in Senate after all

January 13, 2009|By Carl Hulse , The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic leaders said Monday that Roland Burris of Illinois would be seated as the state's new senator, resolving a conflict that had drawn the Senate into a corruption scandal surrounding the Illinois governor.

Senate officials said they were making plans to swear in Burris later this week, a remarkable turn of events considering Democrats' previous insistence that he would not be seated. At issue are the circumstances of his appointment by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has been accused of seeking to trade the appointment for personal gain. The Illinois House voted last week to impeach Blagojevich.

In Illinois, Burris, 71, said he was "truly humbled and honored to learn that later this week I will officially be sworn into the United States Senate as the Illinois junior senator."

Asked how he would be able to remove the taint from his appointment, he said: "So there's no such thing as taint. There's nothing in the statute about taint."

Burris, a former state attorney general, described efforts to impugn his appointment as more of a "political-type, emotional-stirring activity that's been drawn up by someone."

After a review of a new letter issued by the Illinois secretary of state affirming Burris' appointment to a Senate vacancy, the two top Senate Democrats -- Harry Reid of Nevada and Dick Durbin of Illinois -- said in a statement that his paperwork now complied with Senate rules.

The statement by the Senate leaders indicated they no longer planned to ask the Rules Committee to review the appointment, eliminating another hurdle to Burris joining the Senate. They said his swearing-in could still be blocked by Republican objections, but Senate Republicans have given no indication they are eager to be drawn into what has been an embarrassing episode for Democrats.

And Burris makes 58

Should Burris be sworn in later this week, Democrats would have 58 seats in the Senate. The outcome of one race, in Minnesota, remains undecided with the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, challenging a recount that awarded the seat to his Democratic opponent, Al Franken.

The decision to end the dispute over the Illinois appointment also resolves the future of the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama and assures that at least one member of the Senate will be black.

Late last month, Blagojevich defied the Senate by naming Burris to replace Obama, setting off criticism that the appointment was invalid. As late as midday Friday, Senate officials were insisting that Burris lacked the necessary credentials -- under Senate rules -- because the Illinois secretary of state, citing the tainted appointment, refused to sign the governor's appointment papers.

But Burris' fortunes slowly began to change after the memorable scene on Capitol Hill last Tuesday, when Democratic leaders rejected his request to be sworn in as the state's junior senator. Lacking official standing, he walked quietly back outside on a gray, rainy day, surrounded by a swarm of media cameras and journalists who followed his every step across the street for a news conference.

Papers hand-delivered

Burris' lawyers on Monday hand-carried to the Senate an additional document bearing a state seal, an affirmation of the appointment and a mass-produced signature of the Illinois secretary of state, Jesse White. Those documents, combined with the governor's original papers, led the secretary of the Senate to deem Burris' credentials satisfactory.

The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Andy McKenna, criticized Senate leaders for signing off on Burris' appointment. In a statement, he said: "By failing to strip Rod Blagojevich of his Senate appointment power, Democrats chose to trust a madman over the people of Illinois." Republicans favor a special election to fill the seat.

Burris would be eligible to serve through 2010. He said Monday that no decision has been made about whether he would seek to win the seat by election in two years.